Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has this afternoon concluded the first meeting of the Human Resource Development Council (HRD Council). This meeting follows the launch of the HRD Council on 30 March 2010.
The HRD Council is a multi sector, multi stakeholder and expert led advisory group appointed to volunteer their expertise in support of the country’s effort to improved outputs and impact in the areas of education and training, thus building productive capacity of all South Africans.
The HRD Council today received a report from the Technical Working Group (TWG) and reports from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and Department of Science and Technology (DST). The two departments presented progress made at the launch of the HRD Council. These enhance the content of the draft HRD strategy which government plans to finalise and launch by September this year.
The council resolved to adopt the reports and urged the departments and all other affected parties be fast track their work and to always endeavour to give specific targets, deliverables and timelines. Detailed implementation plans per work-stream in the areas of vocational and higher education were proposed now that there is agreement on substantive issues. The DST was requested to work out a plan to accelerate the production of high-level scientists and researchers in order to boost of innovation capacity. This work would also be accompanied by specific timeframes and measurable outputs. A short audit of private sector’s contribution/support for graduate and post-doctoral was recommended.
The council also resolved that a permanent technical team responsible for skills planning be established and that the Technical Working Group will review all outstanding Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) projects and make recommendations for their integration and continuation.
Deputy President Motlanthe announced the appointment of Ms Nolitha Fakude as the second deputy chair of the HRD Council, the first being Mr Bheki Ntshalintshali appointed at the launch of the council. Ms Fakude is currently executive director of Sasol Limited and brings to the Council vast skills and social capital from her long career in human resources management, corporate affairs, transformation and empowerment arenas.
Discussions at the meeting emphasised the importance of clear integration, coordination and targeting so that the work of the council begins to influence the work of other programmes led by the public and private sectors.
Source: The Presidency
